What about 'Odd Man Out' - Carol Reeds' movie set in an un-named northern city in the 40's (it's not as if we have so many that it couldn't be Belfast!).

This was the same period he made The Fallen Idol and The Third Man.

As an early example of mainstream movies based in the north, this sets the precedent of not requiring the actors to get within a beagle's gowl, (as we might say), of the local accent.

Fair enough, most of the actors were recruited from the Dublin theatre scene, but Noel Purcell, among others, sounded like he was still doing an O'Casey play. James Mason sounded like, well, James Mason

The magnificent Cyril Cusack, of course, couldn't ever be less than perfect (whether it was the Irish language Poitín or Nineteen Eight -Four (with John Hurt?)).

For anyone visiting Belfast the Crown Bar on Gt Victoria St will very likely feature on a tour itinerary. When you are in this authentic Victorian Gin Palace, somebody will tell you scenes in 'Odd Man Out' were filmed in there. You can correct them on that one, because the bar interior was recreated as a set in an English film studio.

As it turned out, that later proved to be a nugget of good fortune as, during the 70's, the Crown was damaged on a regular basis by explosions outside the Europa Hotel on the other side of the street (the Europa was the only modern hotel in the city centre and was the lodging of choice for the teams of international journalists and TV crews that were, more or less, in residence at the time - a bomb outside the Europa was guaranteed to be covered by news crews, some of whom preferred the news to come to them).

Anyway, at one stage the Crown had to be refurbished and restored to its antiquarian glory. Naturally, 'Odd Man Out' provided a ready reference to its original design and the architects etc consulted photos and film stills from the movie to arrive at the splendid Liquor Saloon enjoyed by tourists and locals alike.

Photos from the film are down at the back, I think - look out for William Hartnell as a bar man (the first Dr Who on TV).