DVD Talk Reader Robert Rasmussen noted that the 'Pan and Scan' VHS release of Remains of The Day seemed to have picture information at the top and bottom of the screen that wasn't in the 2.35:1 DVD Release: "Probably the most important scene in the film is "The Book". Miss Kenton corners Mr. Stephens in his office and pries a book from his hands. In the VHS version the struggle with the book in picture can clearly be watched. In the DVD version bottom of the frame impedes this subject matter; the book and her hands struggling with his". We posed the question to Columbia Tri-Star and got a great response discussing 'Super 35mm' and the difference between what you see with Pan & Scan and Widescreen - Read their response.
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You are correct when you say that the full-frame version of this movie (found previously on VHS) contains more picture information on the top and bottom of the frame which gets "covered-up" by the black mattes on the widescreen version found on Laserdisc and DVD. However, this film was never meant to be projected that way in a theater. This film was originally shot in the "Super 35mm" format, which means that the original negative in the camera was exposed like this:

In this horribly crude example above (sorry), you can see the picture frames hanging on the wall in the distance and the items on the table in the foreground. The shape of the screen (and on the negative) is 1.33:1 (or 4x3....the same size as you TV).

When the film was shown in theaters (in 35mm or the 70mm blow-up) on a large rectangular screen, it looked like this (or a variation like it):

What consumers sometimes assume is that the table and pictures were meant to be included in the theatrical version simply because they are viewable in the full-frame version. This assumption is not necessarily true...in fact, many cinematographers who shoot in this format compose the visuals primarily for the theatrical "matted" version and treat the full-frame composition as an afterthought. There are various reasons a cinematographer will shoot in the Super-35 format ranging from the lenses available (which affect the depth-of-field and amount of light needed on the set) to the ability to have a full-screen version of the movie on VHS that would not have to loose up to 1/3rd of the picture by Panning & Scanning it, which (if the original film negative were shot like the second example above) would look like this on a t.v.: Many popular films ("Jurassic Park", "Terminator 2" and the "Back To The Future" movies, for example) have been shot in this format and have full-frame versions on video which show more image at the top and bottom through most of the film (the special effects shots, however, are usually made in a widescreen format which means they are "Panned and Scanned", even though they are part of the same movie!)