HALFWAY UP THE MOUNTAIN

The uncompelling problem here is that, though the slow-moving old man and the almost blind old woman are happy together, the man is bored with the same beef dinner every night and the woman won't try anything new. The solution comes abruptly with the arrival of a notorious mean bandit (""I'm beastly, I'm bloody, I'm ba-a-ad!""), who breaks in with his moneybags and goes to sleep on the stove--where the old woman, thinking he's her beef, dusts him with a coat of pepper that sends him running. The gold he leaves behind softens the old woman toward buying chicken or pork, but the experience has led the old man to conclude that ""there are worse things than beef."" Rather mechanically framed, but the joke in the center might work. And even routine Rounds has more kick than most.