diff --git a/src/blitter/32bpp_anim_sse2.cpp b/src/blitter/32bpp_anim_sse2.cpp
index c57f065092..f1bc5b3d98 100644
--- a/src/blitter/32bpp_anim_sse2.cpp
+++ b/src/blitter/32bpp_anim_sse2.cpp
@@ -54,9 +54,11 @@ void Blitter_32bppSSE2_Anim::PaletteAnimate(const Palette &palette)
 			__m128i colour_data = _mm_and_si128(data, colour_mask);
 
 			/* test if any colour >= PALETTE_ANIM_START */
-			if (unlikely(_mm_movemask_epi8(_mm_cmpgt_epi16(colour_data, anim_cmp)))) {
+			int colour_cmp_result = _mm_movemask_epi8(_mm_cmpgt_epi16(colour_data, anim_cmp));
+			if (unlikely(colour_cmp_result)) {
 				/* test if any brightness is unexpected */
-				if (unlikely(x < 8 || _mm_movemask_epi8(_mm_cmpeq_epi16(_mm_srli_epi16(data, 8), brightness_cmp)) != 0xFFFF)) {
+				if (unlikely(x < 8 || colour_cmp_result != 0xFFFF ||
+						_mm_movemask_epi8(_mm_cmpeq_epi16(_mm_srli_epi16(data, 8), brightness_cmp)) != 0xFFFF)) {
 					/* slow path: < 8 pixels left or unexpected brightnesses */
 					for (int z = min<int>(x, 8); z != 0 ; z--) {
 						int value = _mm_extract_epi16(data, 0);