The Remains of the Day (1993)

Not nearly as melancholy or involving as Kazuo Ishiguro's novel set in a stately British home on the eve of World War II, this Ismail Merchant-James Ivory production, directed by Ivory, is typically sparkling and fastidious-the movie equivalent of silver-polishing. Anthony Hopkins is fine, if unsurprising, as the retiring and repressed butler, Mr. Stevens in The Remains of the Day, but Emma Thompson is far too vibrant as the capable but drab Miss Kenton, whose pride gets in the way of her love for him. On the small screen, the detail and intimacy of the movie lose their impact; it's all perfectly okay, but run to read the book instead.