Cardiff moved to the director's chair and helmed an adaptation of D H Lawrence's autobiographical novel "Sons and Lovers" (1960), which featured superb camerawork by Freddie Francis. Cardiff earned a Best Director Oscar nomination and his career seemed to be poised for bigger and better things, but his subsequent efforts proved run-of-the mill. By the late 60s, he had effectively retired, but Kirk Douglas persuaded him to return as a cinematographer on Douglas' directorial debut, "Scalawag" (1973). Since Cardiff had proved a master of Technicolor, a process that had fallen out of favor, most of his later work, while well shot, is inferior to his best efforts. He retired a second time in 1990 but published a memoir, "Magic Hour: The Life of a Cameraman" in 1996.