Half a Bride  Half a Bride is a 1928 American silent romance film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Esther Ralston, Gary Cooper, and William Worthington. Based on the short story "White Hands" by Arthur Stringer, and written by Doris Anderson, Percy Heath, and Julian Johnson, the film is about an impulsive thrill-seeking heiress who announces to her father that she entered into a "companionate marriage" with one of her party friends. After her father abducts her aboard his private yacht and sails away, she escapes in a small boat and after a storm ends up on a desert island along with the yacht's young captain who followed after her. "Half a Bride" was released on June 16, 1928 by Paramount Pictures in the United States. "Half a Bride" received generally good reviews upon its theatrical release, with one reviewer called it "a clever, entertaining picture". Patience Winslow (Esther Ralston) is an impulsive thrill-seeking heiress who spends most of her time going from one wild party to another. One night after attending several parties, she smashes her car and spends the rest of the night in jail. The following morning, she comes home and announces to her father (William Worthington) that she just entered into a trial marriage with one of her party companions, a much older man. Concerned about her well-being, her father abducts her aboard his private yacht and sets sail in order to prevent the ill-advised marriage. Angered by her father's actions and determined to escape, Patience arranges for a motor boat to be lowered to the water and she soon takes off across the waves. Captain Edmunds (Gary Cooper), the young skipper of the yacht, follows after her in another motor boat. After catching up to her, Edmunds makes a daring leap into her boat. Just then a storm engulfs the small boat and the helpless couple end up swept ashore and marooned on a desert island in the Pacific. Filled with fashionable notions she learned from popular radio dramas, Patience insists that she and Edmunds enter into a "companionate marriage" (in name only) and live together as a couple, but without the sexual entanglements. Edmunds agrees, and for three months they live out this "civilized" arrangement. Over time, however, Patience grows to love the young captain who in turn develops feelings for her. About to declare his love for her, Edmunds reconsiders because of her past actions, despite her insistence that she is no longer the spoiled thrill-seeker she once was.