Among the Cinders

[Director] Rolf [Hädrich] had made many good films which were artistic and popular with German audiences . . . Rolf was now trying to make a cinema feature, like many of those young directors he had trained in his earlier years at Norddeutscher Rundfunk. They had been successful — why shouldn’t he? A foreign location, exotic people — why not?

– Producer/co-writer John O'Shea, in his 1999 book Don't Let it Get You, page 147

The first thing I want to say is I'm guilty; I killed Sam Waikai.

– Nick (Paul O'Shea) surprises the local policeman (Michael Haigh)

...God almighty, I've come a hundred miles to see that boy . . . All I get told is he's sick; yes he's sick alright — he's sick with women's fuss and doctors' bullshit.

– Nick's grandfather (Derek Hardwick) makes a memorable entrance

Sometimes I feel sorry for them; the things they miss, the fun they've never had.

– Nick (Paul O'Shea) on his parents

I wish we had the phone on, but your grandfather won't have one in the house.

– Beth (Yvonne Lawley) on her husband Hubert (Derek Hardwick)

He likes arguing . . . When he wasn't farming, he was having a court case; his way of relaxing.

– Beth (Yvonne Lawley) on her husband Hubert (Derek Hardwick)

Some girls just don't let you forget they're girls; with Sally that day, I often forgot. She could have been a mate like Sam for all I thought about it.

– Nick (Paul O'Shea) describes Sally (Rebecca Gibney)

Now that [director] Rolf [Hädrich] controlled the funds to make a low budget film, he tried to make much of the novel’s Māori content. It was hardly surprising that he also missed most of it, instead relying on those parts of the story that had succeeded in translation to German — the bond between the gruff old man and his grandson.

– Producer/co-writer John O'Shea, in his 1999 book Don't Let it Get You, page 148

The initiative to film Maurice Shadbolt's acclaimed novel came from German filmmaker Rolf Hädrich, who began correspondence with Shadbolt which eventuated in his directing the adaptation.

– Writer Helen Martin, in 1997 book New Zealand Film 1912 - 1996, page 133