[1] Organized by personality, it is an almost exhaustive inventory of those involved in international cinema, whether contemporary or historical, elite or esoteric, "from Abbott and Costello to Crumb's Terry Zwigoff", in the words of critic Richard Corliss.

By the fifth edition, Thomson had expanded his scope to include a film composer (Bernard Herrmann), a graphic artist (Saul Bass), a critic (Pauline Kael), a sound designer (Walter Murch), a cinematographer (Gordon Willis) and even an animal actor (Rin Tin Tin) who he thinks are among the best in their fields, as well as writers like James Agee, Graham Greene, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard who have written for or about film.

Thomson's writing is highly personal, as he mixes biography and criticism with his own memories of seeing the films he describes: "The Third Man has one of the most intense atmospheres the screen has ever delivered—seeing it again always brings back the scent of the grandmother who took me to see it.

"[10] In the entry on Michael Powell, Thomson writes: "Black Narcissus is that rare thing, an erotic English film about the fantasies of nuns.

The epigraphs come from Ingmar Bergman's autobiography The Magic Lantern and Howard Hawks's comment on Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby: "The great trouble is people trying to be funny.

In the 2010 edition, he writes "After careful tabulation, the poll (with an electorate of 72) has three favorite films in second place (with 4 votes): Vertigo, Sunrise and Madame de..., but our winner, with 5, are His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane."