‘The Remains of the Day’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

The Remains of the Day (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 134 minutes, $38.98) finally debuts for its 30th anniversary on the ultra-high definition disc format for picky home theater lovers to appreciate director James Ivory’s 1993 British period drama adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker-Prize winning novel.

Nominated for eight Academy Awards, the movie featured career performances from Anthony Hopkins as James Stevens, a too-proper English butler tethered to Darlington Hall manor, and Emma Thompson as Sarah Kenton, a less-proper housekeeper.

The narrative’s timeline moves between the 1950s with the manor owned by retired Congressman Jack Lewis (Christopher Reeve) and the pre-war 1930s, focused on the original owner, the Earl of Darlington (James Fox), a man sympathetic to helping a Germany run by Nazis, much to his eventual humiliation.

A lumbering plot often explored Stevens’ extreme blind devotion to his role as a servant played out to the level of ignoring his antisemitic boss, his father’s deteriorating health and, mainly, an unrequited love for Miss Kenton.

The film also acts as a potent history lesson, lavishly presenting the time when select British autocrats felt appeasement of Hitler was a worthy course to avoid war.

The audience may or may not find the slow-to-build story worth the time investment, though watching the actors craft a budding relationship between the stoic Mr. Stevens and more emotional Miss Kenton certainly does not disappoint.

4K in action: Although not confirmed but potentially from a restoration approved by the director for Sony’s 2012 Blu-ray release, the latest iteration of the Technicolor movie will give viewers a new visual appreciation of this 30-year-old classic, especially when examining the period production design of the country estates and costuming.

Just take, for example, the high dynamic range enhancements offering an expansive variation of green hues as witnessed from the countryside to the top of a billiards table, clipped shrubbery, wine bottles, vines, a 1939 Daimler, a textured towel, flora against the fauna, a patterned couch and pingpong table.

An impressive level of detail can also be found throughout, especially when admiring the spots on a pack of hounds on the run, the shade variations of the horses as well as men dressed in fox-hunting attire, or when inspecting statuary holding up the mantle of a blazing fireplace.

Additionally, take a look at a saturated bright-blue wall hugging the Darlington Hall’s stairwell filled with ornate carvings, or a fiery orange-red sunset displayed behind Mr. Stevens.

Best extras: Sony ports nearly all of the bonus content from Twilight Times’ 2015 Blu-ray disc onto the 4K disc, first highlighted by an optional commentary track with the director, producer Ismail Merchant and a very chatty and uber inquisitive Ms. Thompson.

The track, by the way, has been around since the 2001 DVD release and has the cheery group offering humorous and entertaining stories from the set, all thrilled by the end effort and each complimenting colleagues for their efforts.

Next, a pair of vintage featurettes, nearly one hour in length total, cover the production and history behind the movie, touching on the adaptation from the book; screenwriter and novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala; casting; production design; costuming; and shoots at multiple country estates to represent Darlington Hall.

Both offer informative interviews with Mr. Ishiguro, Mr. Ivory, producers Ismail Merchant and Mike Nichols and main cast members, Mr. Hopkins and Ms. Thompson.

Also, a 14-minute featurette supplements with a further dive into the actual events surrounding the film, including nuggets such as historical footage of Neville Chamberlain returning to England and waving a signed document from Hitler that supposedly secured peace at the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia.

Finally, 15 minutes of deleted scenes (seven total) include a detailed optional commentary with the director who analyzes his choices for not including these “rescued scenes,” as he refers to them.