KCRC television commercial stylising track maintenance

Continuing my theme of railway related Hong Kong television commercials found on YouTube, here is a Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation commercial from 1989 that stylises track maintenance.

The use of a dark backdrop, dramatic lighting, and a synthesiser soundtrack was a popular look for television commercials during the 1980s.

This Australian television commercial for the State Rail Authority of New South Wales is another example from the same period.

Similar stylistic cues can also been seen in this advertisement from another Australian rail operator – V/Line.

This advertisement for Queensland Rail.

As can the 1988 British television commercial “Britain’s Railway”.

Footnote

Much has been written about the “Britain’s Railway” commercial – the following is from Wikipedia:

In 1988 Hugh Hudson directed a 2½-minute advert for British Rail, a parody of the Post Office Film Unit’s 25-minute documentary, Night Mail, made in 1936. Poet W. H. Auden had written verse specifically to fit the original 1936 film’s footage, which showed the enormous scale of BR’s daily operation and the structure of the ‘sectorised’ business. The opening sequence of Hudson’s British Rail advert features the northbound Travelling Post Office with Auden’s original verse, narrated by Sir Tom Courtenay.

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