Well, that is out of the three versions - the 1956 Carousel, the 1930, Frank Borzage version and this one, 1934 Fritz Lang.
Of these three - I will leave aside the glamour coefficient and go with the execution of the theme, and then Borzage closely but quite significantly trails Lang, carousel is no where in reckoning. But that was a musical, so probably the other aspects - acting of the leads, or the execution of the plot, was considered tertiary.
There are very minor differences in plot, the secondary leads of Mary - in the two American Versions have a sweetheart, whom they marry. This is an aspect closer to the original theatrical version, where the husbands had been a bit stuffed shirt type (as especially made out in the Carousel) . Lang kept this aspect under cover. However that is really a distance subplot of the main one, so didn't matter much.
Another difference was in the ending, unlike the original, the carousel and Lang made a bit of positive ending, whereas Borzage left it in undefined state. Looking at the character as defined in the original, as well as all the three movies, the Theatrical version was justified. Though there too some doubts remain - the name Liliom seem to signify that he was finally pardoned in the afterlife. Of course Borzage kept his Liliom deserving sympathy, and not as out and out rascal as the others did.
What really makes this version stand out was the treatment and also the excellent portrayal by the two main characters - Liliom (Charles Boyer) and Julie (Madeleine Ozeray). Both were superb in the roles that they were enacting. Boyer as the completely loafer-degenerate- skirt chaser (even after marriage - with Vivian Romance, in her pre-star days as an also) a thoroughly unlikable person, only changed a bit once the responsibility (impending fatherhood) was divulged. Madeliene was equally superb in her role as the girl so head over heels in love that she was ready to close her eyes to any and everything. In Borzage version she had been somewhat of a nagging than the forgive-all self-sacrificing wife and hence the unconditional sympathy of the audience was lost. The unrelated Boarding housekeeper Mme Hollund was Liliom's aunt (Lang), Julie's Aunt (Borzage) and Julie's quite well to do cousin (Carousel) - and hence the attitude in Lang version was most understood - since in either of the other two cases, there was no need for Julie to work as housemaid, with an assistant work available at her aunt/ cousin's place.
Lang has tried to, and has quite successfully, brought out the soft core in his Liliom - especially in in two segments - first was where despite his denial - of any tenderness towards Julie - the heavenly magistrate played back his thoughts for him - which were exactly opposite of what he said (and that brought some audience sympathy back) and of course towards the end, where there was finally a tear in his eyes - indicating that he had finally been purged.
This is undoubtedly #1, with Borzage abut one point behind it, and Carousel trailing by at least 3-4 points - (incidentally I got this Liliom as a bonus - part of the Carousel double disc)
There are very minor differences in plot, the secondary leads of Mary - in the two American Versions have a sweetheart, whom they marry. This is an aspect closer to the original theatrical version, where the husbands had been a bit stuffed shirt type (as especially made out in the Carousel) . Lang kept this aspect under cover. However that is really a distance subplot of the main one, so didn't matter much.
Another difference was in the ending, unlike the original, the carousel and Lang made a bit of positive ending, whereas Borzage left it in undefined state. Looking at the character as defined in the original, as well as all the three movies, the Theatrical version was justified. Though there too some doubts remain - the name Liliom seem to signify that he was finally pardoned in the afterlife. Of course Borzage kept his Liliom deserving sympathy, and not as out and out rascal as the others did.
What really makes this version stand out was the treatment and also the excellent portrayal by the two main characters - Liliom (Charles Boyer) and Julie (Madeleine Ozeray). Both were superb in the roles that they were enacting. Boyer as the completely loafer-degenerate- skirt chaser (even after marriage - with Vivian Romance, in her pre-star days as an also) a thoroughly unlikable person, only changed a bit once the responsibility (impending fatherhood) was divulged. Madeliene was equally superb in her role as the girl so head over heels in love that she was ready to close her eyes to any and everything. In Borzage version she had been somewhat of a nagging than the forgive-all self-sacrificing wife and hence the unconditional sympathy of the audience was lost. The unrelated Boarding housekeeper Mme Hollund was Liliom's aunt (Lang), Julie's Aunt (Borzage) and Julie's quite well to do cousin (Carousel) - and hence the attitude in Lang version was most understood - since in either of the other two cases, there was no need for Julie to work as housemaid, with an assistant work available at her aunt/ cousin's place.
Lang has tried to, and has quite successfully, brought out the soft core in his Liliom - especially in in two segments - first was where despite his denial - of any tenderness towards Julie - the heavenly magistrate played back his thoughts for him - which were exactly opposite of what he said (and that brought some audience sympathy back) and of course towards the end, where there was finally a tear in his eyes - indicating that he had finally been purged.
This is undoubtedly #1, with Borzage abut one point behind it, and Carousel trailing by at least 3-4 points - (incidentally I got this Liliom as a bonus - part of the Carousel double disc)