The 1940's would see the last outpost of the good guys versus bad guys formula when film noir made it's presence well and truly felt, in Raoul Walsh's Pursued, he explores the psychological foundation of violence and ultimate vengeance as Jeb Rand ( Robert Mitchum) relives the childhood trauma of his entire family having been wiped out and attempts to avenge his father's murder once he is old enough to do so. Other genres would exemplify this very same formula which coincided with the contemporaneous growing interest in psychological problems.
The cycle of horror films that was produced over at RKO studios by one of their greats (just ask Scorsese), director Val Lewton between 1942 and 1946 when noir was very much reigning supreme, included Cat People (1942), The Seventh Victim, The Leopard Man (both 1943) and the Curse of the Cat People (1944) collectively probe the human subconscious at a variety of levels. The most markedly noir of these movies is The Seventh Victim, it was here that the suicidal neuroses of protagonist Jacqueline Gibson ( Jean Brooks) who joins a Satanic cult called the Palladists and is sought out by her younger sister Mary (the inimitable Kim Hunter) when she decided to go AWOL is examined in the ultimate good sister, bad sister scenario.