If nothing is missing on the left and right sides of the transfer, the open matte is not really a problem.
Anyway, a lot of European movies were shot at standard ratio and shown as such. On the other hand, many European movies shot at 1.66 (and shown this way in European theaters) were shown at 1.85 in America, with a lot of missing information above and below...
With a 16.9 TV set it must be possible to correct the screen ratio, if you think that the full screen (1.37) is incorrect ?