The Chimerical Quest (1932) deals with an eccentric scientist, crippled during the Great War, who has discovered a method of converting lead into gold but wishes to give his secret away as soon as he has perfected it, so that anyone will be able to make gold, thus fulfilling his dream of turning society upside down by obliterating wealth. The Black Sun (1921) offers an account of the planet-wide catastrophe that overwhelms the world when a collision with an errant dark star causes the sun's radiation to flare up dramatically, and tells of the heroes' battle for survival, hiding deep underground in an old quarry. René Pujol (1878-1942) was a journalist who branched out after the Great War into the production of popular fiction and librettos for comic opera. He went on to work prolifically as a screenwriter and director in French cinema during the 1930s.