“Johannes Flütsch and Manfred Stelzer's documentary on a slot-machine player who has the eyes and hands quick enough to beat the combinations at their own game. Monarch, named after the first machine he beat, tours the countryside and urban dives in a plush Mercedes and a tailored suit with reinforced pockets, this time in the company of Flütsch and Stelzer who watch every move he makes like a hawk to cipher his secret formula. There isn't any - except that he is such an entertainer he should stay in the movie business.” --Brian Rose, in “German Film” #3.
The directors comment: “After the small-minded grimness of the Nazis came the Americans, with ice cream, chewing gum, rock'n'roll, nylon, Coca-Cola, and one-armed bandits, the gambling machines.... The machine rules (Monarch's) life.... The machine that he believes he has conquered has in fact conquered him.” --Berlin Film Festival notes.