Director, Producer, Screenwriter

(b. September 2, 1923 Quebec City, Quebec - d. January 1, 1983)

Bernard Devlin was a key figure in Canadian cinema and in the development of the National Film Board. He joined the NFB in 1946 and went on to write, edit and direct more than one hundred films in both French and English.

After graduating from Montreal’s Loyola University, Devlin joined the Royal Navy and served in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as participating in the invasion of North Africa. After joining the NFB, he contributed to the origins of direct cinema with the On the Spot/Sur le vif series and became head of the French Unit in 1953. He left the Board in 1954 to oversee the launch of French television production at Radio-Canada, and resigned in 1956 to work as an independent. He returned to the NFB in 1959 as a director for French television production and headed the French Unit from 1960 to 1961. He produced a dramatized series of historical films, Les Artisans de notre histoire, and directed Les Brulés (1957), an award-winning series of eight dramatized episodes about the settlement of the Abitibi region of Quebec.

He made significant contributions to film drama at the NFB, from such early examples as L’Homme aux oiseaux (1955) and L’Abatis (1952) to such later works as Alfred J. (1956), Les Suspects (1957), Les Brulés and L’Heritage (1960). He was named head of English production in 1971 and retired from the NFB in 1977.

Film and video work includes

Ici...Ottawa, 1946 (writer)
Ski Skill, 1946 (co-director with Roger Blais; writer)
Vive le ski!, 1946 (co-director with Roger Blais; writer)
Vers l'avenir, 1947 (director)
Double Héritage, 1948 (director)
Horizons de Québec, 1948 (director; writer; editor)
Abitibi, 1949 (writer)
A Capital Plan, 1949 (director)
Les Anciens Canadiens, 1950 (director)
Les Goélettes, 1950 (editor)
Local 100, 1950 (director)
School for Charm, 1950 (director; writer)
Ottawa - Today and Tomorrow, 1951 (director)
L'Abatis, 1952 (director; writer)
Le Bedeau, 1952 (producer)
�Žles-de-la-Madeleine, 1952 (producer)
Montreurs de marionnettes, 1952 (producer)
Sept-�Žles, 1952 (producer)
Winter Week-End, 1952 (director)
Winter Week-End (Revised), 1952 (director)
Côté cour... côté jardin, 1953 (producer)
Football Story, 1953 (producer)
Le Garde-moteur, 1953 (writer; producer)
Hotel Story, 1953 (producer)
It's Raining Soldiers!, 1953 (director; producer
The Mounties' Crime Lab, 1953 (director; producer)
Music Professor, 1953 (producer)
Le Notaire, 1953 (producer)
Oil, 1953 (producer)
Saskatchewan Farm Museum Story, 1953 (producer)
Ti-Jean s'en va-t-aux chantiers, 1953 (executive producer)
Transpacific Flight, 1953 (producer)
Winnipeg Ballet, 1953 (producer)
The Winnipeg Story, 1953 (producer)
The Zoo in Stanley Park, 1953 (director; producer)
L'Abbé Pierre, 1954 (director; producer)
Aviation Medicine, 1954 (producer)
Better Business Bureau, 1954 (director; writer; producer)
Bureau of Missing Persons, 1954 (director; writer)
Camera Men, 1954 (producer)
Cancer Clinic, 1954 (producer)
The Car Mart, 1954 (producer)
Chosen Children, 1954 (director; producer)
La Coupe du bois en Colombie-Britannique, 1954 (producer)
Curtain Time in Ottawa, 1954 (director; producer)
Deep Sleep, 1954 (producer)
The Doll Factory, 1954 (producer)
Dorval et Gander, 1954 (producer)
End of Tour, 1954 (producer)
La Fabrication du papier, 1954 (producer)
French Cuisine, 1954 (director; producer)
Harness Racing, 1954 (producer)
Javanese Dancing, 1954 (director)
Judo-Jinks, 1954 (director; producer)
Korea, After the War, 1954 (director; producer)
Laurentian Skiing, 1954 (producer)
The Magic Men, 1954 (producer)
Men at Work, 1954 (producer)
Micro Movies, 1954 (director; producer)
Movies in the Mill, 1954 (producer)
On Leave in Tokyo, 1954 (director; producer)
L'Or de l'Abitibi, 1954 (director; producer)
Les Polonais du Canada, 1954 (director; producer)
Police Club for Boys, 1954 (producer)
Le Prospecteur, 1954 (director; writer; producer)
Regards sur le Canada series, 1954 (co-director with Robert Anderson; producer; Nos. 1-13)
Reliques indiennes, 1954 (producer)
Saint-Jean, 1954 (producer)
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, 1954 (producer)
Story of a Newspaper, 1954 (producer)
The Strong Man, 1954 (producer)
Survival in the Bush, 1954 (director)
Test Pilot, 1954 (producer)
The Traffic Cop, 1954 (producer)
Trappeur indien, 1954 (director; writer; producer)
Vancouver's Chinatown, 1954 (director; producer)
Window on Canada No. 26, 1954 (producer)
Le 22e régiment en Allemagne, 1955 (director; writer)
L'Alpinisme, 1955 (writer)
Banff, 1955 (co-writer)
Boîte de nuit, 1955 (director; producer)
Les Canadiens français dans l'Ouest, 1955 (director)
Le Chauffard, 1955 (director)
Circulation à Montréal, 1955 (director)
Le Colon, 1955 (director; producer)
La Crèche d'Youville, 1955 (director; producer)
L'�‰levage dans l'Ouest, 1955 (co-writer with Gil LaRoche)
Nos aviateurs outre-mer, 1955 (director)
Pour survivre en forêt, 1955 (director)
Radio Police, 1955 (director)
Quartier chinois, 1955 (director)
Retour à Dieppe, 1955 (director; producer)
Un coeur neuf pour un vieux, 1955 (co-director with Jean Lenauer)
Aéro-Club, 1956 (director)
L'Alcoolisme, est-ce un maladie?, 1956 (director)
Alfred J., 1956 (director)
Cas de conscience, 1956 (director)
Le Cas Labreque, 1956 (co-director with Pierre Daigneault)
D'homme à homme, 1956 (director)
Il s'enfla si bien, 1956 (director)
L'Homme à l'âge de la machine, 1956 (producer)
Que Dieu vous soit en aide, 1956 (director)
Tu enfanteras dans la joie, 1956 (director)
La Vie est courte, 1956 (director)
Le Vieux Bien, 1956 (director)
Night Children, 1956 (director)
The Visit, 1956 (director)
Les Brûlés Parties 1-8, 1957 (director; writer)
Les Nouveaux venus, 1957 (director)
Le Retour, 1957 (director)
Les Suspects, 1957 (director)
Rendezvous, 1958 (director)
Age of Dissent: Young Men with Opinions, 1959 (director; producer)
Britain and Canada Debate Britain's World Leadership, 1959 (co-director with Richard Gilbert; co-producer with Ian MacNeill)
L'Immigré, 1959 (director)
L'Héritage, 1960 (director)
La Misère des autres, 1960 (director; co-writer with Léonard Forest)
Alexis Ladouceur, métis, 1961 (producer)
Dubois et fils, 1961 (director)
Le Niger, jeune république, 1961 (producer)
Claude Jutra, Don Owen, et al.)
Adultes avec réserve...[Boulevard Saint-Laurent], 1962 (producer)
Les Bacheliers de la cinquième, 1962 (producer)
L'Homme du lac, 1962 (producer)
Loisirs, 1962 (producer)
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, 1962 (producer)
La Soif d'or, 1962 (producer)
David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker, 1963 (director)
Blindness, 1964 (writer)
Programme de formation, 1964 (director; writer)
The Visit, 1964 (producer)
The Voyageurs, 1964 (director)
Judoka, 1965 (producer)
Octopus Hunt, 1965 (director)
Once Upon a Prime Time, 1966 (director)
Pre-Release, 1966 (director; writer)
A Question of Identity: War of 1812, 1966 (producer)
Seniority Versus Ability, 1968 (director)
A Matter of Survival, 1969 (director; editor)
Below Zero, 1970 (writer)
The End of the Nancy J, 1970 (director; producer)
A Case of Eggs, Episodes1-4, 1974 (director)
Striker, 1976 (producer)
Nature's Food Chain, 1977 (producer)