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Writer-director Matthew Mishory uses fact and fiction to take us inside the life of James Dean as an up and coming actor in Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean, currently available on DVD from Wolfe Video. James Preston stars as James Dean, who is on the cusp of becoming a worldwide star in 1951. We have a contest lined up where fans of this cherished actor can take home the DVD, which takes one unique look at the man's life. Read on for how you can win.

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A Portrait of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951 DVD

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Set primarily in the early 1950s and...

★★☆☆☆ Sumptuous looks and an enticing central subject may be enough to attract audiences to Matthew Mishory's A Portrait Of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951, but what it possesses in visual beauty, it sadly lacks in substance. Opening oddly to a prologue involving poet Arthur Rimbaud, we are quickly transported to 1950s La where we meet undergrad James Dean at UCLA. James Preston plays the legendary (yet short-lived) screen star and certainly has the looks of the doomed Hollywood icon, sporting wavy curls and thick-rimmed Ray-Ban wayfarers, capturing an enjoyable level of petulance, with his languished looks.

We see Dean interact with fellow students in acting classes overseen by his theatre professor (David Pevsnor), drunken sex-scenes with other young men and scenes of him hanging by the pool, topping up his tan with predatory agent Roger (Edward Singletary) at his side. This is accompanied by the odd scene in the desert at Joshua Tree,...

Wolfe Releasing has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to writer-director Matthew Mishory's "A Portrait of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951" ("Aka Joshua Tree: 1951, A Portrait of James Dean"), the company announced on Tuesday.   The film stars James Preston ("The Gates"), Dan Glenn (TV's "Pushing Daisies"), newcomer Dalilah Rain, Edward Singletary, Jr., Robert Gant and Erin Daniels in an intimate portrait of Dean (left) as he is on the cusp of achieving fame as both an actor and an icon.   Following its theatrical run through June 2013, the film will be released by Wolfe on VOD and DVD in 2013.